Convicts Release Hostages From Jail

Scores of hostages left a jail in southwest Colombia, 24 hours after they were seized by convicts demanding sweeping improvements in prison conditions, police said. At least 120 women and children who had been visiting inmates when the protest flared were released from the San Isidro prison in the city of Popayan, police said. The 1,100 inmates took control of the main compound at San Isidro on Sunday, taking 585 visitors hostage. But police said that none had been in danger and that many of the women had agreed to stay voluntarily to back their husbands’ demands.